A few weeks ago, the Tigers traded for Seattle pitcher, Jarrod Washburn. My immediate reaction was well it's Jarrod Washburn, a thoroughly average pitcher, and we didn't give up much (Luke French) so let's see what he can do though I was not expecting the reincarnation of Dizzy Dean here.
The reaction from the "Tiger fan on the street" and also local sports talk radio was quite different as it was borderline hysteria here for a while. It was as if Jarrod Washburn was the second coming of Sandy Koufax and the Tigers were now a shoe-in for the World Series. Literally, no dissenting voices were heard.
I did mention to a few people that I knew that Jarrod Washburn was pretty much an average pitcher in his career but let's see what he can do. This did not go over well. I am paraphrasing but the response was along the lines of: "You're crazy! He's great! He's JARROD WASHBURN! You don't know. We are going to the World Series!" I thought I was going to get stoned.
Look I hope the Tigers go to the World Series. I just wrote a check for my share of our season ticket plan's playoff tickets. I want to see this as much as anybody. That said, I know fans get excited about new players and everything but Washburn's career stats are available for anybody to see at baseballreference.com.
Ok, forget career stats, let's go with this years stats. Here they are:
In Seattle: 2.64 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 79 strikeouts/33 walks/11 home runs in 133 innings (Ok, I can see some cause for excitement but still he is Jarrod Washburn).
In Detroit: 6.81 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 18 strikeouts/11 walks/11 home runs in 31 innings.
He's Jarrod Washburn.
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